The Power of. Effective Prayer. Learn to Depend on God to Experience Your Breakthrough. Olga Hermans

Transcription

1 The Power of Effective Prayer Learn to Depend on God to Experience Your Breakthrough Olga Hermans

2 Table of Contents Introduction.. Page 3 Chapter 1 What Is Prayer?. Page 4 Chapter 2 Many Kinds of Prayer.. Page 18 Chapter 3 Principles in Prayer Page 31 Chapter 4 Praying for Others. Page 45 Chapter 5 The Lord's Prayer.. Page 59 Chapter 6 How to Deepen Your Life in Prayer.. Page 70 Chapter 7 How to use Your Faith in Prayer.. Page 82

3 INTRODUCTION Maybe you asked yourself the question: Why another book on Prayer? My motive is to give your Prayer Life a boost, so that you pray effectively. I assume that is what you want when you purchased this ebook; that your aim is to be effective. For every effort to be successful, it must be backed in prayer. In order to get results in prayer, you must be convinced of one basic fact: God wants to answer your prayers. This ebook is designed to strengthen your relationship with God and provide you with an understanding of the basic principles of prayer, prayer s purpose, how to pray, and get results. Prayer shouldn t be a drag. It definitely should be the highlight of your day, starting with early morning prayer and keeping an ear to the Holy Spirit throughout the entire day. Effective prayer will cause you to soar like an eagle in God s plans for you. It is the key to tapping into the wisdom of God, which will elevate you above mediocrity. When your Prayer Life is effective, you will be stable, secure, and immovable in everything that you do....the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

4 Chapter 1 What is Prayer? Prayer is the backbone of a successful life. There is a lesson to be learned: for every effort to be successful, it must be backed by prayer. Effective praying is the key to success in every area of life. We, as believers, can achieve the same results that Jesus had when He walked on this earth. His very life is an example of effective prayer. He was in communion with the Father on a consistent basis. Jesus spoke only what the Father spoke. Our prayer life doesn t have to be like we pitch a prayer up and hope someone upstairs catches it! You can pray with the same intimacy and accuracy that Jesus did, if you follow His example.

5 Many Christians believe that prayer is simply talking to God, asking Him to answer their requests. However, prayer is so much more; it is a two-way conversation with the Creator of the universe. Prayer is your strongest link to God. There are different levels in a life of prayer: 1. Read prayer/confession from a book. 2. Pray in tongues. 3. Confess scriptures straight from the Word. 4. Pray a scripture from the Word and expand upon that prayer spontaneously. 5. Pray the Word that is hidden/planted in your heart spontaneously. 6. Receive specific guidance from God as to what and how to pray the Word; reading from scripture and praying the Word from memory. 7. Praying God s Word and in tongues, alternating as the Spirit leads. 8. You have a great hunger for God almost a desperation to pray His will, submitting to Him from the heart/spirit, searching His spirit with your spirit, crucifying the flesh; not satisfied with self-directed prayer; digging deep into the spirit realm. 9. Your spirit issues out the forces of life in effectual, fervent prayer; you press into the spirit realm, your spiritual antennas in tune to where the Holy Ghost leads. You can sense in your spirit and power being released as you speak. You know strongholds are being destroyed. 10. Immediately, when you get to the place of prayer, you re in the spirit; in the Holy of Holies, one spirit with God, praying His desires from your heart, intimate with Him, communing with Him, lost in Him; your mind is in total subjection to your spirit. Prayer is not forceful, but flowing; and such a great joy that you can t get enough.

6 Our World is Shaped by Our Prayers God shapes our world by prayer. The more we pray, the better we function, and our circumstances will change accordingly. Then if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2Chron 7:14 GO TO GOD FIRST Learning how to pray is one of the most important things that a believer should learn. If a new believer learns this at the beginning of his/her conversion, they will learn how to depend on God in everything. He/she will learn how to lean on God and not on people. God wants us to be in a rightful place and that only is when we put Him first in our life. Go to God first to worship Him for He longs to be worshipped. Go to God first to praise Him to acknowledge him before others. Go to God first to thank Him to develop a thankful heart attitude toward the blessings He has bestowed upon you. Go to God first to commune with Him that is why He created you. Go to God first to put God in His rightful place in your life and on the earth this acknowledges God as the creator and the center of the universe. Go to God first with your problems allowing Him to solve your problems, instead of relying on other people. You need to come to the understanding of your own position of righteousness in Christ Jesus. Prayer shouldn t be a drag. It should be the highlight of your day,

7 starting with early Morning Prayer and keeping an ear to the Holy Spirit throughout the entire day. Effective prayer will cause you to soar like an eagle in God s plans for you. It is a vital key to tapping into the wisdom of God, which will elevate you above mediocrity and do many great things to bring Glory to God....but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God]. Daniel 11:32 Because of an intimate prayer life, you will be stable, secure, and immovable. This ebook is designed to strengthen your relationship with God through an awareness of the importance of prayer: its purpose, how to pray, and how to get results. Why Should We Pray? There are many reasons to pray. It seems God is limited by our prayer life that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him. ~ John Wesley Have you ever asked yourself why we need to pray? Many people think that God runs everything in this world. I have heard even ministers say, God has everything under control. He runs everything. You see, that would be true, and we know Him as a loving Father who wants only the best for us. He created a perfect universe where everything works perfect together. He created us, our perfect bodies that are able to heal themselves. Why would He have the world in such a mess?

8 People are killing each other. Little children are dying. Little children are hungry. Women are suffering. There are wars everywhere. So, do you really think that God has everything under control and that He is running all those wars? This thought would create in you a very weak point where you don t know that you should pray. No, God is not ruling in this world. He is not ruling on the earth, but there will be a day when He will! But right now, His will is not being carried out on the earth, except in the lives of those who surrender to Him. The Bible says that God doesn t want that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It is obvious to all of us that His will concerning the salvation of man is not being carried out. So, if He would be in control of everything and pushing His will off on people, He would make everybody get saved today. You see God gave dominion over all the work of His hands to Adam. Therefore, Adam had dominion upon this earth and in this world. He was originally, in a sense, god of this world. 2Corinthians 4:4 tells us that Satan is the god of this world and has dominion here in the world. He will have that dominion and be the god of this world, until Adam s lease runs out. God cannot legally and justly move in and take away that dominion from the devil. The devil has dominion here. He has a legal right because he has Adam s lease. God cannot do anything, unless somebody down here asks Him to do so. A meaningful prayer life with God satisfies the desires of man and God.

9 The Difference between Relationship and Fellowship When you develop a loving relationship with your heavenly Father, it is much easier for you to develop a relationship with others, because when you receive from your Father in heaven you have so much more to give to others. Our relationship with God is vertical, and our relationship with others is horizontal. Your prayer life reveals how much you depend on God and how much you depend on yourself. We know now that God moves on this earth only in response to prayer. Relationship Relationship is positional. Believing and confessing to God and to others who Christ is to you brings you into eternal salvation. You have confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You have been passed from death to life. You have positionally become a Christian. Your position is your relationship with God. Fellowship Fellowship is experiential. You must experience fellowship with the Lord to develop a meaningful relationship. You must experience fellowship with the Lord to grow in your faith. The deeper you know Him, the stronger you will grow in your faith. Your struggle with your faith will slowly be replaced because you start to realize how much God loves you deeply and that He wants to give you the very best.

10 You and I were created for fellowship with the Father. This fellowshipping with the Lord actually cannot be taught; it is something that must be caught by you, experiencing His presence and being with Him every day. This ebook will help you find that place of fellowship with the Lord, but you are going to have to choose for yourself to desire that fellowship. The moment you choose to do that, you will develop a yearning to spend time with the Lord. That is the moment; you don t need to be taught because you have caught the heart of what was taught. Activate the Law of Sowing and Reaping in Your Prayer Life In Daniel 10, when Daniel prayed for twenty-one days, there was seemingly no answer. An angel appeared to him and said, "Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. The KJV says, I am come for thy words. Daniel 10:12 God is moving in response to your prayers and on your words. The battle in prayer is whether you are going to take the words of this world, the words of circumstances, or the Word of God to Him in prayer. God s Word is alive, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. He watches over His Word to perform it. God is concerned about the practical, personal things in your life; and if you don t pray about everything, you probably won t pray about anything! Without prayer, your life is open prey to the devil. Everybody is called to a life of prayer. As you respond to the call to pray and you begin to pray for others, your own captivity will be turned. Job 42:10 says, When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes. In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before! If you have needs, pray for someone else. As you give out, you will receive back into your own life.

11 Alone with God When you come to God, you cannot stay shallow. When you desire to develop a genuine relationship, it requires intimacy. You will be able to sense a deep working of the Holy Spirit during the time you spend alone in His presence. It is one of your richest experiences of your whole life as you set time aside to be with God. You Have to Understand God s Character If we have the wrong concept of God, it will affect our prayer life. It is vital for us to believe that God loves us and wants the very best for us. So, to understand that we need to know how God works in any given situation. God is a God of order. He has a character and personality. God is very predictable. Many times, I hear Christians say that God is sovereign and that He is in control (I will get back on this subject), but God is not so sovereign that we have to guess what He is going to do in our circumstances. No, He wants us to know His ways and to learn how He operates. Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. The Character of Man Your personality is like a blueprint. You have been programmed to act in certain ways, whether it stems from how God originally created you, or whether circumstances in life have, over time, caused you to act in certain ways. Your

12 character, being a combination of your personality and experiences of life, then becomes who you are. God s Character Many people see God as a punishing God. Some have grown up with a fear of God and have come to believe He is out to get them. They see him as a judgmental God, who looks down from the sky, ready to punish the slightest act of disobedience. This learned response teaches that if we do something wrong, God will punish us the wrath of God will come down. Others have read or heard of certain Old Testament passages where God killed many of His people, and have drawn their own conclusions. By reading the Old Testament, however, in the context that it is written, you can see that God is a loving God who loves His people. He designed laws for the order and protection of man. The moment we break His laws, those laws will break us. We lose His protection and are a target of the devil. It is not as many people think, that God punishes us, but rather that we remove ourselves from the protection of God. What kind of Heavenly Father would put horrible things on the children that He loves? Think about it. If our earthly fathers did to us what most people think God does to us, it would be considered abuse. The court system puts people in prison for the kind of abuses many people think God does to His people. Examples to Think On What if a person is suddenly struck by a car and seriously hurt and confined in the hospital for months? This person, in all sincerity, then tells others that God is teaching him a lesson. The question then arises:

13 What earthly father would cause this kind of harm to his child, and then say I m teaching you a lesson this is my discipline upon you. A father like that would probably be sent to prison for abuse. What if a person is diagnosed with cancer and thinks that God gave it to him. The question to you is, would you put something like that on your child? Of course, you wouldn t. We must put blame where blame is due. It is the devil who is to blame. He loves to put sickness on people. He loves to rob, kill and destroy, sending them to an eternity in hell. This is his job. Sad to say, people blame God for what the devil has done. Again, we need to put blame where it is due. John 10:10 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. So, let s settle this: God brings good things in our life and Satan brings bad things in our life. I know God as a God that is in the blessing business. God wants to bless His children. He wants to teach us many different things that will cause our life to prosper. The word bless means empowered to prosper. I like that, what about you?

14 Your Heart is Most Important The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right; His ears are open to their cries for help. But the LORD turns His face against those who do evil; He will erase their memory from the earth. The LORD hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. Psalm 34:15-17 If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Psalm 66:18 The first thing you need to do to set the stage for effectual prayer is to cleanse your heart by repenting of sin. God hears the cry of a repentant sinner who asks for mercy and forgiveness. For the person who knows about God, who knows about His standards of righteousness and refuses to let go of sin, his prayers will be short-circuited. End of preview Full Ebook for thechoicedrievenlife.com